Propane Shortage Prompts Disaster Declaration

A potential propane gas shortage linked to recent severe winter weather has prompted Alabama Governor Robert Bentley to declare a state of emergency.

Bentley said Thursday that declaring a state of emergency "will help Alabamians have an uninterrupted supply of propane gas and other home heating fuels during this period of winter weather."

Temperatures throughout the state have dipped below freezing this week. Bentley says the emergency declaration allows him to invoke laws barring propane providers from price gouging, and suspends the propane gas industry's regulations on the purchase and sale of the gas.

Bentley says the declaration will also lift federal motor carrier regulations on propane being brought into the state.